San Diego State says proposed stadium could be expanded for NFL team

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego State said Thursday that its proposed 35,000-seat football stadium could be expanded to 55,000 seats if the NFL ever returns to the city.

SDSU has proposed building a $250 million stadium to replace aging SDCCU Stadium, formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium.

The new stadium would be part of a campus expansion via an initiative on the November ballot that seeks to buy the site from the city.

A competing initiative calls for a $4 billion development that would include a stadium for a possible MLS team.

The NFL's Chargers relocated to the Los Angeles area before the 2017 season.

While SDSU's plan includes an expandable stadium, the competing plan, called SoccerCity, would set aside a plot of land for five years that could be used for an NFL stadium. After that, it would revert to other development.

SDSU athletic director J.D. Wicker said he had no expectation that the NFL would return, "but I want to be prepared to allow that opportunity."

It would be a long shot that an NFL team would want to share a stadium controlled by a college. If the stadium were to be expanded for an NFL team, that team would be responsible for the cost, which Wicker estimated at between $750 million and $800 million.